


studies in romantic expressionism

by solitaryrefinement (whatsarasays)



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Academia, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Secret Relationship, Stanford, Written Purely for My Own Amusement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26798479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatsarasays/pseuds/solitaryrefinement
Summary: There is someone who occasionally sits in the back of the lecture theater click-clacking a pair of knitting needles. He seems a pleasant sort of fellow.No one knows why he's there, and Professor Hendricks never spares a glance in his direction. But he never makes the man leave either.
Relationships: Jared Dunn/Richard Hendricks
Comments: 21
Kudos: 53





	studies in romantic expressionism

The students pretend not to notice. But they know. Most of them, at least. Certainly, the ones who have taken multiple classes with Professor Hendricks or have him as their supervisor. They know there is someone who occasionally sits in the back of the lecture theater with a pair of knitting needles. A tall fellow with long legs, often crossed, ankle over the opposite knee, accenting _CS 181:_ _Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change_ with soft _click-clacks_.

He appears to be the clean-cut sort with his aggressive side part and pressed khakis. A contrast to the professor’s inherent scruffy rumpled-ness. But his fastidious person makes him strangely soft instead of severe. Of course, his smile helps. If a student initiates a polite nod, he returns with warm eye-contact and an earnest grin. (An undergraduate points out to the person next to them that the man also resembles Boris Karloff’s monster of Frankenstein. This student is informed they are cruel.)

Professor Hendricks knows the man, for he never questions his presence or tries to make him leave. While there’s never a glance in his direction during the lesson, no acknowledgment of his existence, if one stays long enough past the end of class, there’s a moment where the two meet at the door. Eyes brighten, wrinkling with middle-age crow’s feet. One spools alpaca yarn back into its skein and packs it into a canvas tote while the other waits, awkwardly rocking on the backs of his heels, fingers fiddling with the strap of his laptop bag. They leave together.

The students are never around long enough to figure out what’s going on between them.

But some year's are more astute than others.

The current watchers dub the mysterious man ‘Longfellow' (for obvious reasons).

One day, Professor Hendricks’ TA rushes to a group of her friends lounging on the campus lawn. Shielding her eyes from the unseasonably warm September sun, she blurts out that she saw the professor with Longfellow in his office. The two were standing quite close— _too_ close some might say—and Longfellow surreptitiously stroked the tender place where the professor’s jaw meets his ear. The motion was swift but purposeful, like something stolen, and Hendricks had flitted the large hand away.

‘Something’s going on,’ she stage whispers, ‘they have a secret.’

The group laughs and begins to offer their own pieces of information, adding to the mystery.

Like how there’s a picture of the pair slotted between some file holders and a Pied Piper snapback on Hendricks’ desk. It’s a rare thing these days, a physical photo, and it’s a framed one at that. None of them have gotten a good look, but the two seem young in it. Tired and happy, adorned in company green. However, it looks neglected, as though the professor allows it to collect dust. They question whether it’s an ominous sign, indicating relational disrepair, or if it just speaks to their educator’s lack of environmental awareness.

Or, how Longfellow once came in with a lanyard around his neck, at the end of which was a glossy ID badge from Sweet Summer Rehabilitation and Nursing Home. It read, ‘Jared.’ Upon hearing this anecdote, the group momentarily frets over the cognitive state of their professor, questioning if the mysterious man is there to make sure Hendricks isn’t experiencing mental decline.

They toss this out.

The professor is an odd duck, herky-jerky like a human stutter, but he recently railed at an in-class showoff, verbally crucifying the kid for his sloppy reasoning. And then made no apologies for the intellectual execution. He also provides multi-paragraph critiques of where specifically, exactly, precisely they go wrong in their papers. If anything, the man has maybe too much brainpower.

After a brief tangent about how Professor Hendricks might be at risk of becoming a supervillain, they circle back to the topic at hand: Who is this mystery man? This 'Jared?' An old colleague, surely, but why does he sit in on class? He also seems comfortable with touching their professor, even if the gesture was rebuffed. Perhaps a close friend? An ex-lover? A stalker that Hendricks has given up on ever shaking?

Someone refuses to engage in the speculation and snorts, ‘Whatever. Let them be.’

This voice is poo-pooed by the others.

So, they continue to observe, sneaking glances from around their laptop screens. The mysterious man shows up on a semi-weekly basis throughout the semester, stringing along their curiosity. It’s not consistent, yet consistent enough to keep them intrigued. But watched pots don’t boil, and after a time, the whole thing sinks into a lull after mid-terms.

'Jared' Longfellow upturns the pattern when he fails to show up completely.

The students miss the rhythmic tapping of stitches and wonder at his disappearance. Was that it, then? Would there be no conclusion? No answer to satisfy them? No ending to this peculiar situation?

But then! Then!—Professor Hendricks begins to sport a new cardigan. A marled one, dark cognac, with a shawl collar. He looks smart in it. Cozy. Especially when he perches his reading glasses at the end of his long, Roman nose to read a passage or line of code. It even complements his greying curls, bringing out the russet undertones. They wouldn’t have otherwise noticed because it looks like every other piece of knitwear he owns, but he wears it almost constantly which means _something._

‘Confirmation, but of what?’ the students query to each other, flocking in the hallway like birds in a tizzy. Unfortunately, shy of swiping the professor’s cardigan off his back and checking it for a label, they have no way of getting proof. Everyone forgot what color of yarn 'Jared' Longfellow had been using earlier in the semester. Except for one student, who claims it was mauve, so there’s no way it could be the professor’s sweater. Another disagrees. They can’t know for sure.

To their excitement, Hendricks continues to wear the cardigan.

To their disappointment, 'Jared' Longfellow is never seen again.

Finals approach. Seasons change. The students graduate.

Six semesters later, no one is left to appreciate the band that appears on their professor’s ring finger.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] studies in romantic expressionism](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27354820) by [BabelGhoti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabelGhoti/pseuds/BabelGhoti)




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